Congratulations Mr Obama

I wish President-elect Obama all the luck in the world. Now that he has won the election, his optimism will likely be replaced by pragmatism. His idealism replaced by reality. Mr. Obama will have to work through a congress that is more conservative and more jaded. While he may actually not be a part of the establishment, he WILL have to work through the establishment.

I think that the ones who will be most disappointed are those who make less than $10,000 per family member. This includes the working poor and the perpetually unemployed. There is hope for an expansion of welfare and social spending. Perhaps there will be, but history tells us that the victims of regressive welfare programs just get worse not better. All the education spending in the world is not going to help adults who have little education and little aptitude to get more. While adult education does help emplace basic literacy, executive level education and opportunities are at least a generation away for these families. This is nearly as big a problem for middle class whites as for minorities. While there is a greater opportunity for middle class kids to achieve, their educational ceiling is rarely above the bachelorate level.

A groundswell of change?

Are any of the third party candidates viable beyond the standard confines of the political parties? While the election is but three weeks away, Obama is the almost sure winner. I have struggled to support senator McCain anyway.

I guess the question is there a way to create a groundswell toward one of the third party candidates (such as Bob Barr?) While three weeks seems like such a short time, if everybody who is underwhelmed by both of the candidates would jump ship on the status quo and look toward REAL change?

As exciting as a slow drizzle

John McCain needed a slam dunk in tonight's debate. Instead he seemed nearly as exciting as a slow summer drizzle. McCain scored no points and just as before the debate, those who agreed with McCain agreed with McCain and those who agreed with Obama still agree with him.

What Joe Biden meant when he talked about the dining table.

Governor Palin held her own to the much more experienced orator Senator Joe Biden. Senator Biden’s line was much as everyone predicted, he would attack John McCain and paint him as that overused third GWB term. While I found plenty to disagree with him on, the one thing that really rankled me…

Senator Biden said

“He's not been a maverick on the war. He's not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely affects the things that people really talk about around their kitchen table. Can we send -- can we get Mom's MRI? Can we send Mary back to school next semester? We can't -- we can't make it. How are we going to heat the -- heat the house this winter?

He voted against even providing for what they call LIHEAP, for assistance to people, with oil prices going through the roof in the winter.

So maverick he is not on the important, critical issues that affect people at that kitchen table.”

The bottom line is that Joe Biden (and by Biden’s account Barack Obama) believe the federal government should be the answer to those dining room questions. I (and most of those of us who support John McCain) believe that we have to figure out how to solve individual problems ourselves. Government’s role is not to answer those questions. Government’s role is not to protect us from ourselves or to assign a right answer to every question. Government’s role is to provide order and to enforce laws. Laws are supposed to be protections from other’s unfair encroachments, NOT tools to benefit one person, group of people, or class of people. It would seem that Biden is incensed that John McCain doesn’t support government programs that benefit people or groups of people.

The whole point of this was that John McCain is not a liberal. Liberals WANT to send dollars from Washington to the people. Liberals WANT to increase regulation and government. Biden wants Socialized Medicine. Biden wants to enlarge the welfare programs. Even when welfare programs are warranted, this is a function better suited for lower levels of government or charitable organizations.

As to college financing, the income ceilings for financial aid may be too low, but at the same time this statement was designed to appeal to those whose income most likely is well within the range where good financial aid is available.

While virtually everyone wants some changes from the current situation, what we do not want is a bigger government that chews an ever increasing portion of our income. We MUST educate people as to what LIBERALS really are; what LIBERALS really believe. Even if you believe the statement Biden makes over and over again that “we cannot endure four more years of George W. Bush”, can we stomach Barack Obama and Joe Biden at all? If one simply assumes the difference between Obama and McCain is their stands on Roe v Wade it misses the most important aspects of this race what role does government hold in social policy? Do we desire a welfare state where those who choose to do little get the same rewards as those of us who work from our youth to our old age? Do we desire a government that dictates everything we should or should not do and when and how we do it? Or do we desire a government that supports the ideology that everyone should have equal opportunity to achieve? Obama and Biden are liberals in the worst sense of the term. We cannot stand four years of Barack Obama and Joe Biden at all!

The Bush legacy versus Obama

You want to talk about President Bush's popularity (or lack thereof) you try to make it an indictment on John McCain and the Republican party in general. The problem is that the entire congress is viewed similarly and the Democrats control both houses. While the President's aproval is between 1/4th and 1/3rd, congress, according to most polls, is even lower(in the teens). All three senators in this race (Obama, McCain, & Biden) are parts of it. So the stench of Congress is larger than the stench of the President.

The real point here is that running away from the Bush administration toward congress is not setting up change. The real point is to follow who more closely follows your political beliefs. While it is largely a popular election based on whose rhetoric makes them more popular for those who either sit on the fence on political issues or just vote purely on who is the more likable (or less unlikeable) among those running. Even if one has ideas that appeal to you (such as a quick end to the war), you have to consider how realistic those goals really are.

Will Barack Obama actually get us out of Iraq more quickly than John McCain? Can Obama furnish us with a workeable universal healthcare coverage that doesn't bankrupt employers that provide jobs or create a large bureacracy that taxes and spends with regards to either efficiency, access, or quality of healthcare?

All of these issues are open for debate. Then there are the values issues. Do you support Gay marriage, abortion without restriction, freedom from religion as opposed to freedom of religion. Clearly McCain and Obama stand differently on these issues. Even if you wanted to vote for a Democrat (for change), do you still want to vote for Barack Obama?

Who is rich (Obama vs McCain)

Who is rich? I can assure you that to those of us from Talco Texas, someone who made $4.2 Million last year would definitely be perceived as rich. Clearly, the McCains are richer. I think Senator McCain was trying to say some weeks ago that Mr. Obama shouldn't try to label himself as not rich and the McCains as rich. He missed the mark. The bottom line is both of them are pretty comfortable.

If you divide the $4.2 Million the Obamas made last year by a 45 year work life you get something over $93,000 per year. So in one year he made slightly less than double the median the average US family income for a 45 year work life. This $93,000 figure would put him in the upper quintile (20%) of wage earners in the US period. He made 84 times the average US family income. 1/46th of his income would still leave him in the upper 20% of us incomes.

I do not begrudge the money he has made. I am proud for him, the problem is his trying to differentiate between himself and Senator McCain economically fails the test. His background may be humble. In the here and now, he is NOT just a humble Joe.

The Web and the political process

Eight years ago, the web was still somewhat in its infancy. It was a hodge-podge of pages with pictures and virtually no video. New news was still broken primarily on television and radio. In-depth reporting was still primarily the realm of print journalism such as newspapers and magazines. 2000 was the year my company moved from dial-up access to DSL. Most of the world was still using dial-up and marvelled at its ability to bring information into our homes and businesses.

In the political process it was more of a town meeting instead of a medium for prepared advertising. On the GeorgeWBush.com site, there was a bulletin board (sort of like the comment boxes seen today on many sites [this one included].) I put in my ten cents worth and it actually was read by someone significant in the campain. I am sure of that because my ten-cent quip was practically verbatim in a speech that put a dent into Vice-President Gore's definition of middle class. Governor Bush used two sentences of mine nearly directly.

A major part of Mr. Gore's platform was a tax credit to help the middle class to pay for college. My point as that a family of five had to make over $40,000 per year to see the first penny. Nearly a decade later, it boils down to more a question of who the middle class are as opposed to were the middle class going to get a tax credit. The bottom line is a family of five who makes $40,000 per year pays little or no federal income tax in the first place. A credit for tax liability when there is none results in no change in tax liability.

The point here is that eight years ago, there actually was access to the inner workings of campains by those of us on the internet. Today the sheer volume of people online makes it prohibitive. The internet has just become another media stream for the campains to use to spread their message. It serves them well, but the two way forum of the past is seemingly dead. Today (for me) just getting this blog read by ANYONE is a stretch.